STOCHASTIC DESIGN IMPROVEMENT OF AN IMPACT ABSORBER

Abstract

THIS WORK DEALS WITH A NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION WHICH HAS BEEN CARRIED OUT TO STUDY THE CRASH BEHAVIOUR OF AN AUTOMOTIVE SUBSTRUCTURE LOCATED IN THE REAR PART OF A VEHICLE, USING A NEW STOCHASTIC METHODOLOGY, STOCHASTIC DESIGN IMPROVEMENT (SDI). FUNDAMENTALLY, AN ITERATIVE MONTE CARLO SIMULATION PROCEDURE WAS EXECUTED, WHOSE TRIALS CONSISTED OF DETERMINISTIC NUMERICAL ANALYSES BASED ON EXPLICIT FINITE ELEMENT METHODOLOGIES. THE SDI PROCEDURE HAS BEEN APPLIED TO REDUCE OF A GIVEN AMOUNT THE MAXIMUM DISPLACE MENT OF A RIGID BARRIER IMPACTING AGAINST THE REAR SUBSTRUCTURE OF A VEHICLE IN A PARTICULAR CRASH TEST. THE PROCEDURE ALLOWED AN E±CIENT SOLUTION TO THE CONSIDERED PROBLEM AND THE FINAL RESULTS WERE VALIDATED THROUGH EXPERIMENTAL TESTS.